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- Title
Oral contraceptive use in relation to age at menopause in the DOM cohort.
- Authors
de Vries, E.; Den Tonkelaar, I.; van Noord, P. A. H.; van der Schouw, Y. T.; Te Velde, E. R.; Peeters, P. H. M.; van Noord, P A; Peeters, P H
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>We investigated the hypothesis that long-term use of oral contraceptives (OCs), in particular high-dose OCs, could postpone age at menopause.<bold>Methods: </bold>Data was used from 8701 women who participated in a breast cancer screening programme in Utrecht (DOM-3 cohort), and who did not use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or OCs in the 4 years prior to their last menses. Data on OC-use, menopausal status, age at menopause, year of birth, parity, smoking behaviour, socio-economic status, body mass index and age at menarche was available. Use of high-dose OCs has been defined in this study as OC-use before 1972. The data was analysed by means of linear regression and Cox's proportional hazards analysis. Women still menstruating, women with surgical menopause and women lost to follow-up were censored at their last known date of menstruation. Endpoint was the natural menopause (n = 4589).<bold>Results: </bold>The use of high-dose OCs advanced the onset of menopause by approximately 1.2 months for every year of OC-use compared with no OC-use. High-dose OC-use for > or = 3 years, adjusted for confounding variables, increased the risk of earlier menopause compared with no OC-use (adjusted hazard ratio 1.12; 95% CI 1.03--1.21). The use of lower dose OCs did not increase the risk of earlier menopause (adjusted hazard ratio 1.00; 95% CI 0.91--1.09).<bold>Conclusions: </bold>These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that long-term use of OCs could postpone the onset of menopause by inhibiting follicle depletion. Possible explanations are discussed.
- Publication
Human Reproduction, 2001, Vol 16, Issue 8, p1657
- ISSN
0268-1161
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1093/humrep/16.8.1657